Climate Leadership Amidst COVID-19

By Rebecca Rehr

We’re all trying to orient ourselves to a new world. We are amidst a fast-moving pandemic and economic contraction, and immediately concerned about our families and communities, and our future. As our perspectives are narrowed by the urgency of COVID-19, our other big challenges, especially climate change, have not gone away. We must support our frontline first responders, sanitarians, and food distributors while those of us who can must still also continue the drumbeat of climate action.

If we look at addressing these challenges in tandem, the COVID-19 crisis provides useful guidance for addressing our climate emergency. The stimulus money we’re indebting ourselves with has the potential to go a long way to solving climate change. Comprehensive COVID-19 and economic solutions with a longer-term perspective can lead us to climate solutions — a more prosperous, healthy, thriving and just America. It can reignite the true spirit of America’s leadership. ecoAmerica’s full position paper, “Climate Leadership Amidst COVID-19” is available here.

And with Earth Day coming up, many of our partners are preparing to celebrate and take a moment to reflect on the hard-fought achievements in the last 50 years. These highlights are more important than ever as many of their members are battling a new threat.